Commentary: You’re going to laugh at your fashion choices

Every New Year brings about expectations for what the future will hold and in what direction our culture will grow.

While people differ in their specific hopes for and beliefs about the New Year, their mindsets often follow the motto, “out with the old and in with the new.” In our society, fresh and new trends are always in demand. We’re always looking for the next thing to capture our interest.

It’s popular to reflect on the past and its fads. Just look at the nostalgia posts on Buzzfeed and shared on Pinterest. Teens also reminisce on social media, reflecting on past fashion trends. Often these memories of previously popular items are accompanied by one question: “What on earth was I thinking?”

What drives trends? Why do the most random things become enormously popular? There is no shortage of peculiar and laughable items that were once all the rage.

Now is the perfect chance to dig deep into your closet of shame and pull out all the Zulu Beads. These were some of our most loved accessories. Now they inspire a bit of good-natured shame.

Although some hate to admit it, many of us had at least one pair of hideous, rubber Crocs when we were children. Some (including myself) went so far as to personalize the shoes with accessories. The rubber monstrosities are only the beginning of a sizable list of embarrassing fashion trends from the past.

Silly Bandz were another staple of everyone’s wardrobes. For elementary and middle school kids, nothing said cool like rubber bracelets in a variety of shapes, such as elephants, bananas and hearts.

She’s not alone. On Twitter, teens love to share photographs of their rediscovered Silly Bandz accompanied by captions such as, “Throwback to when these things determined how cool you were #sillybandz” and “Let’s just take a moment to recognize the fact that I was addicted to these things.”

It’s hard to say why such odd objects capture the fascination of youth but with the emergence of Rainbow Loom Bracelets and other popular trends, one thing is certain: There will always be some quirk or fad that we buy into.